Scott, his dad, our good friend Cook and I carried pail after pail of water out of the basement, up the stairs and poured it down the driveway, hopeful that we could minimize the damage.

But the next morning, with a few hours rest and a clearer head, we saw the writing on the wall. Our finished basement would no longer be so finished.

This was a few weeks before our wedding. A few weeks before my enormous family was supposed to stay with us. Every bedroom, sofa, space of floor was assigned to someone. Who wants to sleep/walk on bare concrete in a basement that vaguely smells of mildew?

It also should be noted, that this was a few weeks before we were emptying our bank account to pay for flowers, cakes, rental fees, honeymoon, etc. You know, wedding things.

The panic started to set in when we tried to find the time, energy and money to take on this project.

So, instead, we took a deep breath, and decided it could wait.

My family would understand.

My honeymoon would be grateful.

We'll just wait a few months.

Ha.

Hahaha.

Fast forward a bit … and for my 29th birthday, Scott surprises me with a gift nearly four years in the making.

This is the first in a three-part series following our shock-and-awe basement remodel.

Our Family

On Dec. 26, 2009, our lives were forever changed with the birth of our twin daughters -- Grace and Claire. Five years later, we rocked our world again with the birth of our son, Henry. Each day brings new adventures: we relish the good ones, survive the bad ones and hope that we're teaching our kiddos something along the way.